A blog that focuses on our unique program to teach children to gentle wild horses and start colts using natural horsemanship. This blog discusses our efforts to prevent the extinction of the Corolla Spanish Mustang. We are the home of Tradewind, a formerly wild Corolla Spanish mustang stallion who was named the 2011 National Pleasure Trail Horse of the Year by the Horse of the Americas Registry. We are an American Indian Horse Registry Hall of Fame Farm.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Well Rooted --Choctaw Sundance

I am not a slave to pedigree. In fact, I often think too much is made of them.

I am constantly reminded that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt produced a Republican son.

But even with that said, it is great to see when pedigrees work. My main horse, Ta Sunka Witco is the grandson of Choctaw Sundance, shown above ridden by his owner and one of a handful of the most important mustang preservationists, Vickie Ives. We recently added three beautiful fillies out of Texas to our herd. Each descend from Choctaw Sundance. One a yearling, one nearly two, and one nearly four who took to saddle training as easily as a horse takes to eating grass.

I see nothing but great things for the future of each of these horses. Each shares an uncommon intellect and a desire to be with people. The older filly already shows a tremendously smooth, ground covering gait.

I have been riding Joey, a large Choctaw a lot this summer. He brings an element of speed to riding that exceeds that of my Corollas. We will soon put our Marsh Tacky mare in the woods. El Rosio, our Bacca is doing great.

The quality of these horses leads to a painful frustration for me. Because these strains are nearly extinct I feel a very strong personal responsibility to maintain them as pure as possible.

I need to create more Corollas to prevent their extinction.

I wish so much that that was not the case. I suspect that a horse bred from El Rosio (Bacca) and Swimmmer (Corolla) would not only give a horse that could easily trot fifty miles, but one that would do it with such comfort that a rider could enjoy trotting fifty miles.

Karma Farms has had a breeding program based on breeding the best horses of different strains to each other and they have produced incredible horses. If I live long enough I want to do the same thing.

And speaking of longevity, some of you have become concerned with the paucity of posts that I have made this summer. Some have been concerned that I might have a health problem.

I appreciate your concern.

In fact, there is a problem with my health. I have too much good health.

For the past twenty five years I have regularly woke up in the nature of 2:00 am and that is when I got my writing done.

The result has been a tremendous amount of work getting done with a body that was wearing out much too fast. After a diagnosis of sleep apnea I have been wearing a breathing machine at night and find myself sleeping until nearly 6:00 am. Hence I am getting no writing done.

Therein lies the rub--this machine might make me live a lot longer, but if I can't get enough work done what difference will that make? Of course, I will have to learn to write during the day and at night.

That is much easier said than done--it is incredibly rare for me to get a good idea after 10:00 am.

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About Me

In my coat and tie life I am a prosecutor in Smithfield, Virgina. In my boots and blue jeans life am Executive Director of the Gwaltney Frontier Farm, Inc, an non profit organizations which administers Mill Swamp Indian Horses. We raise mustangs, including the rare and endangered Corolla Spanish Mustangs. We teach natural horsemanship to students as young as five years old. I have written several articles on natural horsemanship and recently published my first book, "And a Little Child Shall Lead Them: Learning From Wild Horses and Small Children. I was a recipient of the Keeper of the Flame Award from the American Indian horse Association for our efforts to preserve the Corolla Spanish mustangs and in 2009 we were recognized by the Horse of the Americas Registry with the Carol Stone Ambassador Award. In 2011 we received the Currituck Star Award for our Corolla preservation efforts.
My wife, Beth Edwards and I have three daughters and five grandchildren. See our web site, www.msindianhorses.com

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